Mprovement in machines for raising a nap on cloth



UNITED STATES PATENT I OFFICE.

EDWIN T. MARBLE,OF VORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

MPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR RAISING A NAP ON CLOTH.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 4 l,22',dated January 12, 1864.

` .To all whom it may concern,.-

Beit known that l, EDWIN T. MARBLE, a

' resident of the city and county of Worcester p and State of Massachusetts, have made a new and useful invention, having' reference to Gig- Mills, or'Machinery for Raising the Nap on Cloth 5 and I do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following specication, and represented in the accompanying drawp ings, of which- Figure l is a top view; Fig. 2, a rear elevation; Fig. 3, an end elevation; Fig. 4 a longitudinal and Fig. 5 a transverse section of a machine provided with my said invention. In my said improved machine the napping of a piece of cloth is effected by means of al single .napping-drum furnished with teasels,

. or their mechanical equivalents, and this nappingdrum, after having been revolved in one direction, may have its motion reversed, so asv of suitable construction. Underneath the drum is a tilting rack, D, which at its middle is hung in centers, one of which is seen at a in Fig. 3. This rack is provided with two supplementary racks, D D', which are hinged tov its ends and project upward from it, as shown` in Figs. 2, 3, and 4. The upper parts of these supplementary racks are connected with the frame C by means of chains b b. This rack,

Vwith its supplementary racks, can be tiltedv from one inclined position into an opposite one, the inclination of the rack being to enable the cloth as it may be delivered upon the rack to move down therefrom to aconvenient` position for being drawn up toward the napping-drum. The auxiliary racks serve to keep the cloth-folds on the main rack.

Y A connecting rod or bar, o, is jointed at its lower end tothe rack D at a short distance from one of the centers of the latter. At its Aupper end this rod o is suitably connected to la hand-lever, E, by whose -movements on its fulcrum the rack may be tilted from one inclined position into an opposite one, as circumstances may require. This movement of the lever also at the same time is productive `of other changes in the machine, as will be hereinafter described. The lever has for its fulcruni the shaft d of the napping-drum, there being applied to such shaft a set of fast and loose pulleys, of g, to which two driving-belts of the machine are to be applied, one belt being to cause the drum to run in one direction, the other belt being to cause it to run in an opposite direction.

A driving-pinion, h, is fixed on that part of the shaft clwhich projects beyond the lever E. This pinion is surrounded by three other pinions, 't' k Z,which are arranged with respect to it, as shown in Fig. 3. The two pinions@l la (which are above the pinion h) are of the same diameter as the pinion h. The pinion Z, however, is of a greater diameter, and has affixed to its inner side another pinion, m, whose diameter equals each of the pinions i k. The length of the driving-pinion h is double that of either the pinions i 7c, and is equal to the united lengths of the two pinions, lm. The pinion h engages not only with the two pinions z' k, but with the pinion l, each of the pinions h t' Z being supported by a journal or pin projecting from the lever E.

In the saine plane with the pinions 'i la m are `two gears, u o, which rotate on stationary pins or `journals p p, and respectively engage with other gears, q r, each of which is so applied to one of two shafts, s t, as to be capable of freely revolving on it. The said shafts s t carry the main feed and delivery rollers F Cr, which are arranged relatively to the napping-drum, as shown in Fig. 4.

A piece of cloth while being napped is arranged within the machine or about the napping-drum and its rollers, as indicated by the red lilies at l? in Fig. 4, its two ends being sewed together and the loose portions or folds of the cloth being supported 011 the tilting rack. The cloth, besides going around the feed and delivery rollers, is carried not only around certain guide-roller, u, o, w, x, and y, but also' around two stretching-rollers, H H, which are arranged'over the feed. and delivery rollers and provided with parallel guiderollers z zzz, as shown in the drawings.

Preparatory to the direction ofthe motion ofthe cloth being reversed, each of the stretching-rollers has to be revolved on its axis one hundred and eighty degrees, in order that it may operate to stretch the cloth Widthwise during its passage against it. Each roller is made with two sets of stretching-notches, arranged on each of its two opposite sides, they being made and arranged as in the stretchingrollers of common napping-machines.

In order to produce the semi-revolutions of the stretching-rollers, there is combined with them and the hand-lever E a mechanism such as I shall now proceed to describe. It consists of a horizontal toothed rack, a, and two pinions, b b. The said rack, at its middle, is jointed to the arm o of the lever E, while at or near its ends it engages with the two pinions which are respectively fixed on the shafts of the stretching-rollers H H.

On raising the hand-lever E to its highest position, the following results will take place simultaneously-that is to say, each of the stretching-rollers will be made to turn a semirevolution, the pinion t' will be thrown out of gear with the toothed wheel n, the pinion 7c will be turned into gear with the toothed wheel o, the pinion m will be moved out of gear with the wheel o and into gear with the wheel n,:and,finally,the inclination of the rack D will be reversed.

During a depressing of the lever E the pinion la will be moved out of gear with the wheel o, the pinion t' will be carried into gear with the wheel a, the pinion m will be moved out of gear with the wheel n and into gear with the wheel o, the stretching-rollers will each be turned a semi-revolution, and, finally, the rack D will be again tilted or will have its inclination reversed. While, however, the lever E may be horizontal, neither of the pinions i k m will be in engagement with the wheels o n. Consequently, under such circumstances the feed and delivery rollers will be at rest, and

'there will be no movement of the cloth take place. It is at this period that the teazle bars or plates of the napping-drum are to be reversed and the said drum set to revolving in an opposite direction.

'rollers F G, but we at the same time shall cause that roller of the two which may be delivering the cloth on the inclined rack to revolve a little faster than the other or mate roller. The object of this faster movement of the delivery-roller is to maintain the cloth at its proper tension, or to take up any slack. which may occur in it during the process of napping it'.

The rollers x and y, from which the cloth depends, are movable or adjustable in a curve concentric with the periphery of the nappingdrum, the saine being to enable the surfacebearing of the cloth on the napping-cylinder to be varied more or less, as circumstances may require. Each of the rollers runs on a shaft, i', which has its journals supported by two sliders or carriages, dd, which are applied, respectively, to curved rack-rails e c, arranged in the frame, as shown in the drawings. On each of the said journals there is a pinion, f', which engages with one of the racks of the rack-rails, and, furthermore, each of the sliders has a lip, g', which projects underneath and against the rack-rail, and with the pinion operates to keep the carriage in place.

Fig. -6 is a longitudinal section of one of the rollers x y, its shaft i', its pinions f f', carriages d d', and rack-rails e e. A springcatch, la', fixed to one of the carriages d d of each rollerx or y, by engaging with one of the pinions, serves to vloclr the roller in any assumed position on its racks. Y

In order that the gearing which operates the feed and delivery rollers F G :may not cause either of the rollers,'while acting as a delivery-roller, to overstretch the cloth lengthwise of it, each of the gears q r is provided with a friction apparatus and a positive-connecting apparatus. The positive-connection apparatus is of a character such as will not only clutch or lock the gear to its shaft while the gear is rotating in one direction, but will allow the gear to revolve on and independently of the shaft while such gear may be revolving in an opposite direction, the shaft, and

consequently the roller F or G thereof, being then revolved by the friction of the friction apparatus acting against the gear.

Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section of one of the feed and delivery rollers F G and their friction apparatus and positive-connection mechanism. The said friction apparatus is a circular head or brake l', there being one of sii/.h brakes on the shaft of each of the rolles F G. It bears against the outer surface of the wheel g or r, and there may be a friction-washer placed between the two- The positive-connection apparatus consists not only of a ratchet, n', (see Fig. 9 and also Fig. 8 the latter being an inside view of the wheel g) applied to the inner Iside of the wheel, but a spring catch or dog, o, arranged withina box or case, p', aiiixed to the rollershaft, the saine being as shown in Fig. 9. The catch or dog o engages with the teeth of the ratchet. When the wheel q is revolved in one direction, the ratchet and dog so connect it with the roller-shaft asto cause the wheel to revolve the roller, -but when rotated in the opposite direction the dog will slip over the teeth of the ratchet and impart a rotary inotion to the roller.

A spring-latch, p, applied to the frame of the machine serves to fix the hand-lever E in either of its extreme positions,as well as in an intermediate one, or that which it should have in order that its pinions may be out of engagement with both of the wheels n o.

Having thus described the said gig or napping-machine, what I claim is as follows:

l. The combination and arrangement of the two main draft and delivery rollers F G, the two cloth-stretchers H H, the tilting rack D, and the napping-drum A, the whole being to operate substantially as specied.

2. The combination of the two friction apparatuses and the two positive-connection apparatuses, hereinbefore described, or their mechanical equivalents, with the driving gearing or mechanism of the main draft and delivery rollers F G.

3. In combination with the mechanism for driving the rollers F G, a means or mechanism, sub'stantially as described, (viz., the gear l or its equivalent) by which that one of the two which may be delivering the cloth or drawing it forward may be revolved sufficiently faster than its mate to prevent the cloth from becoming slack.

4. The improved tilting rack constructed of the main and supplementary racks, to 0perate substantially as described.

5. The combination of the tilting rack D EDWIN T. MARBLE.

Witnesses:

JAMES WHITE, W. W. RICE. 

